Lee Street Massacre
The Lee Street Massacre is surrounded by controversy. This riot, which took place in Alexandria, Louisiana around the time of World War II, served as “ground zero” that emphasized “the racial tensions of the 1940s”.[1] The town had a growing military presence prior to, and during the war, in which several military camps were situated near Alexandria.[2] The camps included Camp Claiborne, Camp Livingston, Camp Beauregard, Esler Field, and Pollock Army Air Field.[2] According to Remembering the Sacrifice: Historic Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, “Within a 50-mile radius of Alexandria, LA, four major camps, four airfields, and numerous bombing and artillery ranges were developed. Lands from the newly established Kisatchie National Forest were transferred to the Department of War to establish Camps Claiborne, Livingston, and Polk. These all received new divisions to train. An Army division consists of approximately 10,000 to 15,000 soldiers”.[3] This army base has been given much praise for its achievements throughout World War II, however, Black soldiers and their experience have largely been written out of this history. Historians have been unable to officially determine whether this location serves as a mass grave site for Black Soldiers training for World War II, who due to racist institutionalized power reinforced through the military and police, fell victim in the forgotten Lee Street riot.[1]
The military camps of Alexandria, Louisiana were heavily segregated at the time. The “367th Negro Infantry Regiment (later renamed the 364th), was one of the earliest African-American combat units” in Alexandria, Louisiana.[4] In efforts to further draw distinctions between white and Black soldiers, white officers severely mistreated members of the 367th regiment. The Black soldiers that mostly made up the 367th regiment were from the North and were stationed in Camp Claiborne.[1] Racial tensions and discrimination directed towards the 367th regiment continued to rise. Such experiences were common for Black soldiers who “in particular experienced racial discrimination in the armed forces. Most of them were never accepted as military equals to white soldiers. Blacks were relegated to segregated and distinct combat units, to separate training schools, and to segregated camp facilities. More often than not they made up the service and supply units and, even within these, black troops faced what they considered to be unwarranted degrees of discrimination”.[5] The soldiers, though fighting for their country, were still subject to an othering experience that stripped them of their status as veterans and citizens.
Lee street, according to several accounts, was “the center of Alexandria’s Black community in 1942”, making the implications of this violent aftermath point towards a racially motivated act of aggression.[1] It was a thriving neighborhood with Black-owned stores, restaurants, and grocery stores, a sporting arena and other entertainment establishments, as well as the infamous Ritz theater which was the cornerstone of this forgotten massacre.[6] With these establishments in such close proximity to army bases, Lee Street became a popular destination for Black soldiers to come and enjoy themselves when released from their army bases. [6]
Historians have debated what initially sparked the massacre mainly because most accounts of what took place that night came from civilians and onlookers who all remember the events differently. The 1942 edition of the Afro-American Newspaper states that the riot began when a white military officer arrested and beat a Black officer in the Ritz Theater on the corner of Lee and 8th streets in downtown Alexandria.[7] The arrest and violence resulted in a larger fight to break out between the unarmed Black soldiers who were visiting the town, and armed white officers and military police. For the next few hours, soldiers on both sides fought each other, as well as the larger crowd who appeared to disagree with the actions by the white military personnel. Former history professor at Louisiana college William Simpson, extensively researched the events of that night. His research includes interviews from various community members who reported that around 60 armed military police came to Lee Street, along with state troopers and city police.[7] The armed officials shot at the Black soldiers as well as community members who were standing in solidarity with their fellow Black soldiers.
In an attempt to uncover the truth, Dr. Doug Bristol, a history professor at the University of Southern Mississippi, connected with witnesses of the time in order to piece together a more accurate account of what occurred that night. According to Dr. Bristol, the Lee Street Riot began when a Black soldier stepped in front of a car driven by a white woman.[1] His research states that the white woman, “called the local police officer who of course immediately started to arrest him and other soldiers that had come out with him that night, came around and this became a police riot because one among the things they reported were police were doing things like just shooting into Black barber shops.[1] So it just became this rampage through the Lee St. area”.[8] Despite the varying accounts of what occurred that day, what is relevant in each perspective is the presence of racist reinforcement of power that ultimately aimed to police Black individuals.
As an event that involved the military and state officials, there is little recorded history that can prove what actually took place that night. The official reports from the War Department stipulate that there was a riot, but that only 3 soldiers were killed. However, testimonies from community members and eyewitnesses tell a different story which points to anywhere from 20-300 civilians and soldiers killed.[7] Simpson's research finds that the 5th army Headquarters at Camp Beauregard restricted any access the press had to the military police and the soldiers who were involved. Additionally, he states that the army cordoned off the area where the riot took place, denying the press and public access to any information.[7] The only information that was shared was the information the Army delivered, which was very limited.[7] This account emphasizes a common experience of a Black man in this time; where later in history, the murder of Emmett Till for suggestively speaking to a white woman proves that this telling of events is not only not difficult to believe, but normalized.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Baptiste, Tiffany. "Heart of Louisiana: Alexandria's Lee St. riot". https://www.ksla.com. Retrieved 2021-11-19. External link in
|website=(help) - ↑ 2.0 2.1 Alexandria-Louisiana.com. "WWII Army Camps Near Alexandria LA". www.alexandria-louisiana.com. Retrieved 2021-11-19.
- ↑ Barnett, James (2015). "Remembering the sacrifice: historic Camp Claiborne, Louisiana" (PDF). United States Department of Agriculture.
- ↑ Nielsen, Euell A. (2020-06-29). "The Mystery of the 364th Infantry Regiment (1943-1945) •". Retrieved 2021-11-19.
- ↑ McGuire, Phillip (1983-04-01). "Desegregation of the Armed Forces: Black Leadership, Protest and World War II". The Journal of Negro History. 68 (2): 147–158. doi:10.2307/2717718. ISSN 0022-2992.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "CITY ERECTS MARKER RECOGNIZING LEE STREET RIOT OF 1942". Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Martinez, Melinda. "Search for mass grave linked to 1942 Lee Street incident launched at Pineville cemetery". The Town Talk. Retrieved 2021-11-19.
- ↑ Teutsch, Matthew (2021-05-31). "Memorial Day and the Lee Street Massacre". Medium. Retrieved 2021-11-19.
This article "Lee Street Massacre" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Lee Street Massacre. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
